On the last episode of True Blood Eric got his revenge by killing
King Russell's lover, Talbot. Now comes the blowback, and it's so great
it will rip your spine out of your body. Russell goes a little crazy
and vampire rights advocate Nan Flanagan returns to show us what the
Authority is all about.

Nan visits Fangtasia to record Eric's statement for the shadowy Authority. Despite telling them the truth, the Authority decides to stay out of it and let Eric kill Russell on his own. It's a politically safe plan, but one that won't work because Russell has a plan of his own.

In the greatest scene of the episode, a TV news anchor does a story on the Vampire Rights Amendment when the live broadcast is interrupted by Russell showing up and ripping out his spine before completely undoing all the work Nan and the Authority have worked so hard on. It's now war and the Authority can't sweep the drama under the rug.

The bigger question is: What is the Authority? During Nan's interview we see her showing the recording to a group of people watching a giant TV screen. The more True Blood delves into the inner workings of the vampire system the more it seems like there may be some secret vampire CTU in charge of everything. Bring on the vampire Jack Bauer!

What Is Sookie?

Sookie visits Hadley and discovers that Hadley's son Hunter is also a telepath. And after drinking all her blood, Bill is able to travel to the same magical happy place Sookie visited to get the 411 on what she is. He knows, but True Blood insists on not telling us yet. Of course, thanks to the books, we already have a pretty good idea.

Finally, there's plenty of drama at Merlotte's, but the most important stories involve major carnage. Despite having his head caved in, Franklin is alive and psychotic as ever, terrorizing Tara. Luckily, Jason saves the day with a wooden bullet, continuing the season 3 streak of true deaths for vampires following Lorena, the Magister and Talbot.

In the other story, Sam beats the daylights out of Crystal's father, who is still mysteriously creepy and full of secrets. If you've seen the second season of Veronica Mars, this whole subplot about the meth dealers reminds me of the Fitzpatricks, a relatively insignificant and misleading subplot that seems way too confusing and drawn out. It's reached the point where I don't even care what the deal is with Crystal's family unless it ties back into the vampire stuff.

Regardless of that story, we still have Bill and Sookie unlocking her secret and the escalation of war between Eric and Russell, with the vampire Authority stuck in the middle. With only three episodes left this season, I expect even more death and destruction to come.